Training camp is right around the corner, and while the Flyers won’t have quite as hefty of a roster to carry through it, with the condensed schedule and all, it’s still quite a significant range of players who we’ll see getting in on the action before too long. It’s a lot to parse through — it’s 26 players in the forward group alone — but we’re here with the answers to any instances of looking at the roster and saying… who?
The locks
As it stands, there are 12 forwards on this training camp roster who we can comfortably pencil in as locks to make the final roster, given the work they’ve done to establish themselves with the team in seasons past, or likewise elsewhere in the league:
Noel Acciari, Denver Barkey, Noah Cates, Sean Couturier, Christian Dvorak, Tyson Foerster, Nikita Grebenkin* Travis Konecny, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, and Trevor Zegras
This section does come with that one asterisk, as we have to acknowledge the news from yesterday that Grebenkin is dealing with a bit of a flare-up of the upper-body injury that’s been plaguing him since late last season. The prognosis doesn’t seem to be too serious, but the indication is that he might miss a bit of camp. Something to keep an eye on there.
The lineup hopefuls
Despite the robustness of the established forward group at the NHL level, there is yet some space open for meaningful training camp battles, with some interesting names in the mix to make a push for the couple of up for grabs spots with the big club.
Alex Bump: All credit to Bump here, he certainly made an impact in his stint up with the big club at the end of the regular season and into the postseason. He’s clearly made some fans in both the Flyers’ management group and coaching staff, and he’s coming into main camp with a very nice bit of momentum after delivering a standout performance in last weekend’s rookie game. He’s done just about everything you could have asked of him to ensure that he earns a roster spot with the Flyers to start the season, but the numbers game still makes things complicated, and a place in a platoon role remains his to lose.
Carl Grundstrom: It’s a similar story for Grundstrom. He performed well in a largely depth role for the Flyers last season after being called up from the Phantoms, enough that he earned himself a contract extension over the summer. He’ll all but certainly be in the mix for a similar role this season, but it’s a crowded race to get into, especially as the organization has more or less stated that they really want to give their prospects the inside track on earning full-time NHL jobs. It wouldn’t be impossible to come into camp on the heater to end all heaters and beat them out, but it would be a real challenge.
Zach Aston-Reese: One of this offseason’s new additions, Aston-Reese was brought in as an additional piece of experienced organizational depth. He has a good resume that he’s brought in with him, with nine seasons in the NHL in the back pocket, and though he spent last season split pretty cleanly between the NHL and AHL levels in the Blue Jackets organization — an indication of where in the overall arc of his game and career he stands, to be sure — he still has a good bit left in the tank, and that experience will keep him in the mix through these critical camp battles.
Cole Knuble: On the opposite end of the spectrum, what Knuble lacks in NHL experience, he’s certainly making up for in strong impressions made. He was little short of a revelation for the Phantoms in a limited run at the end of their last season, and popped in a big way in his most recent rookie game showing. He might ultimately be a long shot to earn an NHL job out of camp, but with how effective his game has been looking, of late, he’s definitely going to be a player to watch, someone who could make things really interesting as we get going here.
Jett Luchanko: And finally, we arrive at the Jett Luchanko of it all. Given how things have gone for him over these last couple of seasons, and the fact that he’s only just getting going again after undergoing offseason surgery, it feels more likely that the Flyers will want to take the patient approach with him, giving him heaps of minutes down in the AHL and a lot of time to work with their developmental staff down there, to really make sure that they’re getting it right when it comes to his development. That feels like the much more likely scenario. But, that said, he did start both of the last two seasons with the big club, and a repeat of that isn’t completely outside of the realm of possibility.
AHL-bound
Wrapping this up, we have the next largest group of players who we can still expect to see make an appearance in the preseason, and who could push into the making things interesting group, but who still largely remain longer shots, and we more reasonably expect to head down to the Phantoms to join their training camp before too terribly long.
Nolan Foote: The Flyers added a nice amount of reasonably young depth to the organizational pipeline this summer in their free agent signings, and Foote figures in as one of those new and intriguing options in the mix. Foote bolsters even more the winger depth in the system, and with a handful of shorter stints in the NHL, he brings a bit of experience along with him, and could make himself a recall option down the road a bit. Still, he’s a bit of an unknown in this organization and its systems, and as such sits for now on the outside looking in. That could change after a few months, to be sure, but that’s where he sits for the time being.
Danila Klimovich: Another new addition, Klimovich is another productive young (at just 23) winger brought into the mix of the pipeline. It will be interesting to see what he’s able to bring to the Phantoms this season, if there’s a bit more scoring consistency that he can help them tap into, but given the fact that he’s also now entering his sixth season of North American professional hockey without having a sniff at an NHL debut up to this point, it’s hard to imagine that changing dramatically now, him having an inside track on a promotion immediately upon joining a new organization. We’ll see what he can do down with the Phantoms, and it’ll go from there.
Jacob Gaucher: Over these last couple of seasons, Gaucher has proved himself to be a passable stopgap option in a recall setting for the Flyers, but hasn’t really grabbed ahold of that opportunity to force a longer look at that highest level. There’s still value in having that type of player in the mix in the organization, but particularly given the reasonable depth of centers that the Flyers have in their more proven NHL group, the door isn’t really open for Gaucher to make a run at an NHL job this fall.
Devin Kaplan: Kaplan had a bit of an up and down rookie season with the Phantoms (one that was also ultimately shortened by injury) and this year is going to be more about getting things back on track now that he’s recovered, and continuing to build his game up into something more consistent and productive. He has some fans in the organization, to be sure, but there’s still a ways to go before he’s truly ready to push for an NHL graduation, and he’ll continue to chip away at it with the Phantoms this season.
Noah Powell: With his showing in the rookie games last weekend — a bit of scoring pop and a whole lot of meanness and physicality — Powell has certainly turned some heads and brought a good deal of attention to himself as we get ready to kick off, that’s for sure. All the same, though, he remains inexperienced in the professional game (having played just 16 games with the Phantoms last season, after joining at the close of his college season) and he has a lot to learn still about being a consistent producer and presence at the highest levels. He’s gotten his name on the radar, and that’s a great start, but he still has a lot of work left to do, and that’s best done with the AHL staff in Lehigh.
Jack Studnicka: The last of this crop of offseason additions, Studnicka (given the role he played with Charlotte for much of last season) is expected to play a major role for the Phantoms this season, and remains an intriguing piece of organizational depth, should the Flyers find themselves struck by injury and needing to dip into the AHL group to keep a full roster up there, given the fact that he’s coming in with a good bit of NHL experience banked as well. There could be a good and interesting piece there, but he’ll be more in the conversation for a later in the season recall than someone we expect to push for a spot out of camp.
Riley Thompson: Another player who got in for a bit of an extended look with the Phantoms at the end of last season, joining out of college, Thompson made a pretty solid initial impression, and could carve out a nice role for himself at that level, but his game is still a little raw, and he still has some work to put in to really fully figure out the professional game. We’ll see how much he’s able to build that up over the course of this season, but there’s little doubt that he’s going to begin the season in the AHL and see what he can do there.
Garrett Wilson: Wilson, back on an AHL contract after a spin with the Flyers at the end of last season, is a critical piece of the Phantoms’ lineup, having served as their captain for the last three seasons and establishing himself as a major physical presence for them. It was really nice to see that work recognized with that late-season recall last year, but now the expectation is that it will be back to business as usual for him, and he’ll be returning to the Phantoms before too long.
Zayde Wisdom: It’s a similar story for Wisdom — on an AHL contract as well, Wisdom has remained a valuable piece in the organization, even though he wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer when his last NHL deal expired. He’s one of the true beating hearts of that Phantoms team, and as nice as it is to have him around in the NHL camp for a bit, back to the Phantoms he’ll be soon.
